I'm glad you asked the question, Tim. My tank on my '73 only
reads two-thirds when full and always has. I can put in around 7
gallons, but I've never run it empty so I don't know how much it
actually holds. I hope somebody knows.
Tedd
On 14 Dec 2000, at 10:39, Tim Gaines wrote:
>
> Here is a question I have had for nearly 13 years and have been too
> sheepish to ask. The fuel gauge in my 1980 Spit has never read higher
> than about 2/3 full after a fill-up. When the gauge reads empty and
> I do fill up, it takes only 6.5 or 7 gallons. I always assumed the
> gauge reads wrong and that there must be a few gallons remaining
> even when it reads empty. But, working on that theory, I have
> occasionally run out of gas and found that the fill-up still
> required only 7 gallons. This past summer I replaced the sending
> unit with another taken off a parts car, and it read the same as
> my original one. The guage does read full when the lead wires to
> the sender are shorted though. Then I found a way to adjust the
> sender so the gauge reads full when the tank is full, but now it
> reads about 1/3 full when I run out of gas. So it appears that my
> tank capacity is about 7 gallons. But the tank looks just like the
> original ones pictured in the parts catalogs. So, if it is original,
> I see only two possibilities:
>
> 1) There is something taking up space in the tank. But, if that is
> the case, it would have to be blocking the float in some way too.
>
> 2) Maybe when I think I have run out of fuel, I really haven't. Last
> week, when I ran out on the way to work, there was an obvious
> vacuum hiss when I popped the filler cap. I was in too much of
> a hurry to try to restart; I just dumped about a half gallon in
> from a small can I have started carrying recently. I know, I know,
> that is not smart, and I will stop as soon as I either solve this
> problem or reset the sender so the gauge reads empty when it really
> is empty. Anyway, if there is a problem with the breather line
> and the carbon cannister that is producing a vacuum which overcomes
> the fuel pump, why is my gauge not reading full scale? In all
> honesty, I have come to believe that when I run out of gas, I'm
> REALLY out; I don't hear any sloshing when I rock the car.
>
> So, WHAT'S UP? Thanks for any insight you can provide.
>
> Tim
>
>
>
> --
> Tim Gaines
> Clinton, SC
> 1980 Spitfire
> 1974 TR6
Tedd Ross Pitts, Broadcast Transcripts (w) 202-824-0537
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